Golfing aid

ABSTRACT

A method of training golf swing including the steps of adjusting the position of a guide relative to a golf club so that the guide projects vertically when the club is held in an address position, a tip at a free end of the guide bears against the radius side of a leading forearm when the club is held in a back swing position, and the tip bears against the radius side of the leading forearm when the club is held in a follow through position. Repeatedly swinging the golf club between back swing and follow through positions. Correcting golf swing to ensure that at the back swing position the tip bears against the radius side of the leading forearm. Correcting golf swing to ensure that at the follow through position the tip bears against the radius side of the leading forearm. By use of the method the golf swing is trained to be within a plane and errors such as wrist cocking are detected and can be corrected. Further, the technique of radial deviation of the wrists to provide an improved swing can also be trained. In a preferred form the guide has an arcuate tip that bears against and contours the leading forearm. Being arcuate the tip of this form provides more positive registering of correct swing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a golfing aid for improving the capacity of aplayer to correctly execute the swing of a golf club.

A golf club during a swing should be maintained to move through an arc,starting at the address position (bottom of the stroke) and movingupwards during the backstroke to its top position and then downwardsduring the downswing to strike the golf ball and again upwards duringthe follow-through. This swing should be carried out with the club heldfirmly in the two hands of the player, with the player leaning forwardand swinging his body during the major portion of the stroke to causethe head of the club to follow the correct arc. During this process theleading arm generally plays the role of acting as the guide for the pathof the club so that the swing of the leading arm directs the path of theclub, whereas the lagging arm plays a lesser role in maintaining thepath of the golf club and a greater role in propelling the club.

During the swinging motion the club is turned about the axis of itsshaft in one direction on the upward movement and in the reversedirection on the downward movement and it will thus be realised that itis highly important to be able to control not only the swing of the clubin the arc, but also its rotation about the shaft axis as it movesthrough the arc in both the upward and downward swing. At the time thatthe head strikes the ball, the club must be accurately positioned topropel the ball in the required direction.

It has been long recognised that the swing of the golf club is one ofthe critical factors of a consistent performance, and a great deal ofexperimentation has taken place to analyse the faults of individualplayers and to provide an aid to assist in the improvement of a golfswing. A great number of devices have been constructed ranging fromcomplex and large structures including robotic arms to assist in guidingthe swing of the player, or hoops to guide the head of the golf club inthe correct arc. Each of these methods and apparatuses are directed atcertain aspects of the swing and assist to varying degrees in improvingthe swing.

Many of the larger, complex devices suffer the fault of inconvenience ofuse, a large requirement of storage space and also expense, and areusually unaffordable to the majority of golf players because of the highcost.

A number of smaller devices have also been suggested each focussing onspecific aspects of the position of the golf club relative to the bodyof the player. The present invention is one of several that is relatedto a guide member that attaches to or is made as part of the shaft of agolf club and which gives an indication of the quality of the swing byits position relative to a body part of the user.

A number of suggestions have been made that have a guide memberextending from the stem of a golf club or practice club at an angle toavoid contact with the limbs of the user when the club is swung. U.S.Pat. No. 4,682,775 by Wood has the guide member positioned to correct aslice swing. The guide member extends downwardly so that if the clubshaft is not rotated in a counter clockwise direction to the desiredposition, the guide member will contact the rear leg of the user. U.S.Pat. No. 4,145,054 by Stewart is somewhat similar to the concept in U.S.Pat. No. 4,682,775 except that the guide member is intended to passbetween the forearms of the user, should the swing be faulty thencontact will be made with one or other of the forearms of the user. U.S.Pat. No. 3,918,721 by Tradsk uses a flexible guide member, which isattached to the golf club the end position of the flexible guide membercan be placed in a variety of positions. The majority of the uses arerelated to non-contact positions of the wrist and/or forearm.

There are also a number of documents that make suggestions ofapparatuses where the guide member makes contact with part of the bodyof the user. U.S. Pat. No. 2,462,955 by Glancy has a member which clampsonto the stem of a golf practice stick or golf club, the end of themember rests on the shoulder of the lagging arm when in its top positionand is removed when the downswing commences. Australian Patentspecification 618518 in the name of Cox is similar to the Wood deviceexcept that the guide is in the form of an arcuate guide member, whichmaintains contact with the wrist of the lagging arm throughout thestroke so that a break in contact or increased pressure indicates afault. U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,426 the name of Cox is a further developmentof the above Australian patent where a stop is connected with thearcuate guide member which stop is to contact the forearm of the laggingarm so that the angle of the forearm of the lagging arm relative to theshaft of the golf-club is defined at the commencement of the downswing.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,812 in the name of Lorang is the closest known priorart to the present invention. This document suggests a guide memberwhich has a spring loaded "clicker" device. The free end of the guidemember starts off in contact with the lagging forearm of the user, thuswhen the user brings the club up on the back swing, contact of the guidemember on the forearm actuates the clicker so that the player hears the"click" which indicates that the club is correctly positioned. On thedownswing the clicker will again click to indicate that contact with thelagging forearm has broken. At the end of the follow through contact isagain made with the lagging arm to show that the correct position hasbeen assumed. The use of this device is said to teach the "piggy back"of the cocking of the wrist together with the arm swing to increase thespeed with which the club strikes the ball.

All the above prior art concentrates on aspects of the golf swing whichcentre on the position of the golf club relative to body parts such asthe shoulder, relative to both forearms to pass therebetween, and mostspecifically with the lagging arm. The present invention however hasfound that by focussing on the leading arm far greater improvements canbe achieved, and in particular facilitates with tactile feedback thatthe leading arm and consequently the shaft of the golf club aremaintained within a correct plane to execute an improved golf swing.

Of particular detriment to maintaining an optimum swing is a fault thatcommonly occurs at the beginning of the downward stroke, and again atthe end of the stroke which draws the shaft of the golf club out of thevirtual plane of the swing. Such a fault is known as wrist cock whereinstead of maintaining the hand in the plane of the swing the wrists arebent in the direction in which the fingers curl and consequently drawsthe shaft out of the plane of the swing. Instead of extending the reachby wrist cock it is desirable to extend the reach by radial deviation ofthe wrist where the wrist is bent in the plane that might best bedescribed as the plane of the palm. Radial deviation is not detrimentalto the swing because, at all times, the shaft of the club is within theplane of the swing, whereas with wrist cock the plane of the swing isonly entered once the swing has begun, and consequently there isconsiderably less control and consequently considerably less consistencyof swing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of this invention is to facilitate the correct holding of theclub during a stroke.

This is achieved by attaching to the shaft of the club a guide memberwhich projects from the club and has on it a tip which, during part ofthe stroke, contacts the leading forearm of the golfer provided thegolfer has the correct angular grip on the club and is moving his bodyand arms correctly.

In one form the invention could be said to reside in a guide member forattachment to a golf club, the golf club having a club head and a shaftextending upwardly from the club head to a hand grip, said guidecomprising an attachment means to be attached to the shaft of the clubon or below the hand grip of the club, a stem of the guide extendingaway from the shaft and angled upwardly with respect to the shaft, thestem having a tip on its free end for contact with the leading forearmof a player on the radial side during correct use when the club isproperly gripped with the leading hand at approximately right angles tothe shaft of the club and when the stem extends away from the shaft inthe same radial direction as the leading edge of the club head.

It will be understood that instead of providing a guide member which ispreferably removable it may be desired to mount a guide memberpermanently on the shaft of a golf club, or alternatively it may bedesired to make a dedicated training club with the guide memberpermanently positioned in place.

This guide member is normally positioned in the plane of the strikingface of the head of the club, and when the club is held in the addressposition prior to effecting a stroke, the tip of the guide member ispositioned clear of the forearm and moves into line with it and duringthe backstroke as the club reaches the final part of the upward movementshould contact the forearm of the user and during the downswing shouldcontinue for a time to contact the leading forearm but leaves thiscontact shortly after beginning the down swing, the downswing iscontinued, the ball is struck and contact is once again made with theleading forearm toward the end of the follow-through.

The angle of the grip between the leading forearm and the shaft of theclub is maintained in the first portion of the downswing and the lastportion of the follow through. This is found to have a number ofadvantages. The tip of the guide bears against the radial part of theforearm in the backswing and has a tendency to cause the wrist of aplayer to deviate radially, at that point, thereby assisting with piggybacking of the radial deviation of the leading wrist to impart extraswing. Any wrist cocking is very easily noticed because contact with thetip will be uncomfortable or the tip will loose contact with theforearm, because wrist cocking causes the shaft to move out of the arcof the swing.

Maintaining the contact of the forearm in the initial stages of thedownswing also assists with maintaining a fuller arc during the initialparts of the swing in so far as the player is conscious of the positionof the leading arm, moreover the collect angle between the club and theleading arm is maintained, and this encourages the downswing to extendfurther "backwards" of the player when there is contact. Greater powercan be achieved at impact by maintaining the radial deviation of thewrist on the start of the downswing.

A more comfortable contact is also made with the leading forearm towardsthe end of the follow through if the arc of the swing is fuller. Contactof the tip with the leading forearm in the follow-through is a verysensitive measure of the trueness of the arc of the swing, any slightdeviation will immediately be sensed by the tip contacting to one sideof the radial part of the leading forearm or by reason of the tipmissing the leading forearm altogether. This is assisted also by theshape of the tip having a contact contour that rests comfortably on theradial side of the forearm of the player. The contact contour ispreferably arcuate, and includes two arms protruding away from the stemof the guide member within which the forearm registers loosely if it iscorrectly positioned.

Thus the device is so arranged that the correct attitude of the shaft,which has an optimum geometry relative to the player's body during theupswing and down swing of the club is correctly maintained.

The invention may also be said to reside in a method of positivefeedback to enhance the use of radial deviation in a golf swing and tominimise wrist cocking, the method comprises, attaching a guide memberto the stem of a golf club, the golf club having a club head and a shaftextending upwardly from the shaft to a hand grip, said guide comprisingan attachment means to be attached to the shaft of the club on or belowthe hand grip, a stem of the guide extending away from the shaft andangled upwardly away from the shaft, so that the stem extends radiallyaway from the shaft of the club in the same direction as the leadingedge of the club head, the stem having a tip on its free end, the stemof the guide so formed that when put into a position below the positionof a player's hands holding the shaft, the tip contacts the radial sideof the leading forearm of the player when held in its normal position atright angles to the shaft of the club, and that no contact is made witheither forearm when the club is held in the address position or whenstriking the ball, the method including attaching the attachment meansto the shaft of the golf club, so that the stem extends away from theshaft in the same radial direction as the club head, executing the swingincluding the steps of; assuming the address position, with the guidestem extend vertically upwardly away from the shaft, raising the arm toa top of a backswing position, and contacting the leading forearm withsaid tip, swinging the club in a downswing and losing contact with theforearm shortly after the downswing has commenced, making contact againat an upper part of the follow through with the leading forearm of theplayer.

The constructional details of the invention can be varied but accordingto a convenient form the guide member comprises a clamp which can berigidly attached to the shaft of the club adjacent to the grip andprojects outwardly and angularly therefrom to position the tip at theright distance from the handle or grip so that during the swing the tipof the guide member will lightly rest on the forearm of the player.

The guide member can be made telescopic to allow for personal adjustmentand can be moveable along the shaft to select a convenient position andalso can be adjustable to bring the tip toward or away from the grip ofthe shaft of the club.

It would of course be possible to make such a device a permanent part ofa practice club if that is desirable.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding the invention will now be described withreference to two embodiments of the invention as shown in theaccompanying illustrations the first embodiment being shown in FIGS. 1to 9 and the second embodiment being shown in FIG. 10. In theillustrations:

FIG. 1 is a perspective drawing of the first embodiment of the guidemember and shows details of the means by which attachment is effected toa golf club, the stem extending away from the club, and an arcuatelyshaped tip,

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional drawing of the guide member attached to theshaft of a golf club showing particularly the alignment between the stemof the guide and the club head,

FIG. 3 shows the manner in which the position of the guide member can beadjusted relative to the leading forearm and the club shaft,

FIG. 4 shows the position of the guide member relative to arm when theback swing is started,

FIG. 5 shows that the guide member is in contact with the leadingforearm at the top of the backswing before the downswing is started,

FIG. 6 shows the guide is still in contact with the leading forearm someway into the downswing,

FIG. 7 shows the guide is out of contact further into the downswing,

FIG. 8 shows the guide member beginning to make contact with the leadingforearm once it approaches the end of the follow through,

FIG. 9 shows the finishing of the follow through with the guide memberin full contact with the leading forearm, and

FIG. 10 shows a second embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views of the drawings.

Dimensions of certain of the parts as shown in the drawings may havebeen modified and/or exaggerated for the purposes of clarity ofillustration.

A perspective view of a first embodiment of the invention is shown inFIG. 1. The guide member comprises an attachment means (1) to beattached to the shaft (2) of a golf club (3) on or below the hand grip(4) of the golf club. A stem (5) of the guide extends away from theshaft (2) and is angled upwardly away from the shaft. The stem has a tip(6) on its free end for contact with the leading forearm (21) of theplayer.

The stem (5) of the guide comprises a first portion (7) extending awaylaterally from the shaft of the golf club so as to be kept clear of thehands of the user, a second portion (8) extends upwardly with respect tothe shaft, but it still extends away from the shaft but at a smalleracute angle from the shaft as compared to the angle of the firstportion. A curved portion (9) of the shaft lies between the firstportion (7) and the second portion (8). The second portion (8) of thestem extends upwardly with respect to the shaft and is also angled awayfrom the shaft and at an free end (10) has the tip (6).

The tip includes a contact surface (12) which is contoured to rest onthe radial side of the forearm of the player. In this illustratedembodiment the contour is arcuate with a radius that will accommodatethe radial side of the forearm of a player. Arms (13, 14) of the arcuatetip curve around the forearm to loosely register on the radial side ofthe forearm when positioned correctly. This will provide for comfortablecontact only when accurately positioned on the radial side of theforearm.

The attachment means (1) is removable and can therefore be attached tothe shaft of a variety of different clubs. The attachment means seenbest in FIG. 1 and 2 comprises a clamp, including two clamp wings (15,16) extending from the first portion (7) of the stem, forming betweenthe wings in a central portion of the clamp a channel (17) toaccommodate the shaft (2) of the golf club. The wings extend to asecuring part where a hole is formed through each respective one of thewings, which holes are aligned for passage therethrough of a securingbolt (18). The two wings of the clamp can be secured to the shaft of aclub by tightening wing nut (19) on the securing bolt to urge the twoclamp wings together over the shaft.

The guide member, apart from the securing bolt and the wing nut, isintegrally formed of a rigid plastics. The plastics can be any one of avariety plastics that is sufficiently rigid to stay in place so that theposition of the tip (12) is fixed relative to the shaft of the golf clubwhen secured to it, but also sufficiently flexible to allow for thewings of the clamp to be separated so the clamp can be fitted over theshaft of a golf club. One material that might be used is polypropylene.

It can be seen that the stem (5) of the guide member is generallycruciform in cross section, this cross section maintains resistance ofthe stem to flexure in any direction. The clamp wings however areflattened in order that the wings can flex apart so as to fit over ashaft before tightening the wing nut. It can also be seen that the tipis T shaped in cross section, to promote rigidity of the tip, and itwill be appreciated that the arcuate shape will add to the structuralstability of the tip. The contact surface (12) of the tip is smooth withno rib so that discomfort of the use of the guide member is minimised,should a rib protrude from the contact surface, the edge of the rib canexert an uncomfortable pressure on the radial side of the forearm of theuser.

The way in which the guide member is to be fitted to the golf club (3)is best seen in FIG. 2 and 3. The shaft of the golf club (2) is fittedthrough channel (17) of the clamp (1) of the guide member so that thefree end of the guide member extends away from the shaft of the golfclub in the same axial direction as the upper most end (22) of the golfclub. The wings of the clamp will normally need to be spread apart tofit over the shaft. The stem (5) of the guide member is radially alignedwith the leading edge of (20a) of the head (20) of the golf club as canbest be seen in FIG. 2. It can be seen that the leading edge is at thebase of the striking face (20b). The axial alignment of the guide memberis achieved as best seen in FIG. 3. The golf club is held generallyhorizontally, the leading arm (21) is held downwards onto the uppermostend (22) of the golf club so that the leading arm extends atapproximately right angles from the shaft of the golf club. The head end(23) of the golf club is supported by the lagging arm (24). The tip ismoved axially along the shaft until contact is made with the radialportion (25) of the leading forearm of the player, and then the guidemember is attached to the shaft of the golf club by tightening the wingnut to clamp the guide member onto the shaft to fix it into place.

The use of the guide can be represented by the sequence of positionsshown in FIGS. 4 to 9. In use the golf club is held properly in place;the address positioned is assumed (not shown) with the feet spaced apartand the golf club positioned downwardly. The correct position of theclub can be verified by looking to see that the stem of the guide isvertical. It is difficult to see simply by looking at the head of thegolf club. The backswing is started with the golf club brought upwardly(see FIG. 4), and the weight of the player is transferred to the laggingside, the position of the guide is to be maintained vertically above theshaft of the club. The back swing is continued until the top of thebackswing is reached with the tip contacting the radial side of theforearm of the player, as can be seen in FIG. 5. If an incorrectposition is assumed, the tip will sit skewed on the radial side of theleading forearm or one of the arms of the tip will dig into the forearmof the player.

The downswing can be commenced, and the shaft of the club is broughtdownwardly, whilst maintaining contact between the tip of the guide andthe radial side of the forearm of the player, until approximately theposition shown in FIG. 6 is shown, which represents approximately athree quarters backswing position. Contact with the tip is broken andthe downswing is continued as represented in FIG. 7. The ball is struckand the follow through is commenced; all without any contact being madebetween the arms of the player and the guide. Contact is again made atthe upper part of the follow through once the arms are brought upwardlycommencing at what might be termed the three quarters follow throughposition, approximately as shown in FIG. 8. The follow through is thencontinued until the club is brought behind the player as can be seen inFIG. 9.

It will be found that the three quarter backswing position and the threequarters follow through position will be somewhat different for eachindividual but can be found simply by practicing with the guide.

The position in which the golf club is held is easily checked, in theaddress position, in that the position of the stem of the guide memberis far more apparent than the head of a golf club because it is directlyin the line of sight of the player relative to the shaft. The positionof the guide member can be checked by the player by eye to alignvertically with the shaft of the golf club to ensure that the club isheld correctly.

When the club is raised to the top of the backswing feedback is providedto ensure that once the leading arm of the player is straight, the angleat which the club is held is correct, and that it is therefore in theplane of the arc of the swing. Maintaining contact between the leadingarm and the tip of the guide during the initial part of the downswing toapproximately the three quarters backswing position encourages a fullerarc to be formed, and accordingly tends to provide for a fuller swingwith the potential for greater power to be imparted on the ball to bestruck.

The contact is then broken until approximately the three quarter followthrough position is attained, and during that portion of the arc of theswing there is no tactile feedback of the quality of the swing, it isnot until such contact is again achieved that tactile feedback regardingthe result of the swing is again achieved. If the swing has followed thedesired arc, then the tip will make a square on contact with the radialside of the forearm and will sit comfortably.

In order that the lower part of the swing is practiced, it is possibleto practice a swing with reduced power, where the golf club is swungbetween the backswing three quarters position and the follow-throughthree quarters position. This can be an initial exercise in practicingan accurate swing.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 10 held by aplayer at a lower part of the downswing.

In this second embodiment, the guide (26) is constructed of a tubularaluminium and the guide is comprised of two separate parts (27 and 28).A first part (27) includes the attachment means which takes the form ofa clamp (28), and a first part (28) of the stem (30) of the guide. Asecond part comprises a telescoping portion of the stem and the tip. Thetelescoping portion can vary the length of the stem. This feature isparticularly useful where the guide is to be permanently attached to theshaft of a golf club, whereby to permit adjustment of the position ofthe tip relative to the shaft. A locking ring (31) is provided to lockthe relative position of the telescoping portion to the first part.

In the second embodiment the tip is in the form of a ball to makecontact with the radial side of the forearm of the user. The operationof this second embodiment is substantially identical to the firstembodiment.

We claim:
 1. A method of training golf swing including the steps of:(i)adjusting the position of a guide relative to a golf club so that theguide projects vertically when the club is held in an address position,a tip at a free end of the guide bears against the radius side of aleading forearm when the club is held in a back swing position, and thetip bears against the radius side of the leading forearm when the clubis held in a follow through position; (ii) repeatedly swinging the golfclub between back swing and follow through positions; (iii) correctinggolf swing to ensure that at the back swing position the tip bearsagainst the radius side of the leading forearm; and, (iv) correctinggolf swing to ensure that at the follow through position the tip bearsagainst the radius side of the leading forearm.
 2. A method as in claim1 including the step of:(v) correcting golf swing to ensure that exceptat the back swing and the follow through positions the guide does notcontact the body of the golfer.
 3. A method as in claim 2 including thestep of:(vi) correcting golf swing to ensure that the tip contacts theleading forearm at the same location of the leading forearm.
 4. A methodas in claim 3 wherein the location of the leading forearm is centralbetween the outside and inside of the forearm.
 5. A method as in claim 1including the step of:(vii) correcting golf swing to ensure that whenthe club is swung from the back swing position to the address positionthe tip remains in contact with the leading forearm until a threequarter back swing position.
 6. A method as in claim 1 wherein the guideis adjusted so that the tip bears against the radial side of the leadingforearm when the club is held in the back swing position and the wristsare radially deviated towards the radius side of the forearms.
 7. Amethod as in claim 1 wherein the guide is adjusted by releasing clampingmeans, sliding attachment means up or down a shaft of the club andsecuring the clamping means to fasten the guide in position.
 8. A methodas in claim 1 wherein the guide is adjusted by releasing locking ringmeans, increasing or decreasing a length of a stem of the guide formedin two cooperating parts by telescoping one part into the other, andsecuring the locking ring means to fasten the stem at a length at whichthe guide is in position.
 9. A method of training golf swing includingthe steps of:(i) adjusting the position of a guide relative to a golfclub so that the guide projects vertically when the club is held in theaddress position, an arcuate tip at a free end of the guide bearsagainst and contours about the radius side of a leading forearm when theclub is held in the back swing position, and the tip bears against andcontours about the radius side of a leading forearm when the club isheld in the follow through position; (ii) repeatedly swinging the golfclub between back swing and follow through positions; (iii) correctinggolf swing to ensure that at the back swing position the tip bearsagainst and contours about the radius side of the leading forearm; (iv)correcting golf swing to ensure that at the follow through position thetip bears against and contours about the radius side of the leadingforearm; (v) correcting golf swing to ensure that except at the backswing and the follow through positions the guide does not contact thebody of the golfer; and, (vi) correcting golf swing to ensure that thetip contacts the leading forearm at the same location of the leadingforearm.
 10. A method as in claim 9 including the step of:(vii)correcting golf swing to ensure that when the club is swung from theback swing position to the address position the tip remains in contactwith the leading forearm until a three quarter back swing position. 11.A method as in claim 9 wherein the guide is adjusted so that the tipbears against the radial side of the leading forearm when the club isheld in the back swing position and the wrists are radially deviatedtowards the radius side of the forearms.